Ex-HPD officer returns murder case files he took after leaving office

City Council member and ex-homicide detective Ed Gonzalez confirmed he took a number of murder files with him when he left the Houston Police Department in 2009, and only recently returned them during an inquiry into murder cases that police have failed to investigate.

Gonzalez said the removal of homicide files was "an oversight," and explained he returned them to HPD after he was recently contacted by detectives.

Police Chief Charles McClelland has ordered an internal investigation into allegations that others in the homicide division failed to follow up on a number of murder cases assigned to them.

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Sources familiar with HPD's internal investigation say that while the inquiry initially focused on murder cases assigned to one detective, it since has widened to include a number of officers in the division, including supervisors. A police spokesman would not comment on the investigation, when it might be concluded or the cases assigned to Gonzalez.

"The department does not discuss ongoing internal affairs investigations,'' said HPD spokesman John Cannon.

Gonzalez, elected to the council in 2009 and now the chair of its Public Safety Committee, confirmed he was contacted recently by HPD investigators who were attempting to locate a murder case file. He stressed that HPD did not tell him he was under investigation.

Gonzalez said he placed the homicide file in a box of his belongings as he cleared out his work area at HPD after his successful City Council campaign.

"Just in the rush of leaving and getting things together and just leaving quickly, it was an oversight on my part on keeping those things," Gonzalez said. "I should have communicated a little more clearly with them, and left everything in better order in terms of leaving the materials there."

Gonzalez said he located one case that HPD was inquiring about, and then found "maybe two others" in the box and "immediately" turned them over to HPD.

He declined to provide any details of the cases, adding he didn't want to discuss them until the department's investigation is concluded.

"There was an oversight on my part, but I did correct it. As soon as it was brought to my attention I returned the materials to them," said Gonzalez, who was contacted in Iraq where he was on a trade mission.

Sources familiar with HPD procedure said the original case file should always be returned by an investigator.

Files could be critical

The file's contents can vary. A case file with original statements given by witnesses or recordings of interviews would be critical in a prosecution, but it is not known what the files returned by Gonzalez contained.

A spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to comment when asked if the delays in investigating the cases would cause problems with future prosecutions.

"Right now it's being investigated by HPD internal affairs, and we won't comment,'' said DA's spokesman Jeff McShan.

One local defense attorney said a long lapse in a murder investigation can harm both the prosecution and defense if someone is eventually charged.

Damage to defendants

Houston defense attorney John Cossum, a former state and federal prosecutor, said whether the investigative delays are due to incompetence or malfeasance, they nevertheless can harm a person who has to defend himself years after an event. For example, he said, establishing an alibi is difficult later because witnesses and evidence such as credit card receipts may be hard to locate.

"The damage to the defendants remains, because it's a heck of a lot harder to establish where you were five or 10 years after the fact rather than three or five days later," Cossum notes.

Ray Hunt, president of the Houston PoliceOfficers' Union, insisted that homicide supervisors at HPD should not be punished unless they were made aware of the lapses in murder investigations and did nothing.

"Police officers and investigators have lots of responsibilities, and unless something is brought to a supervisor's attention that shows someone is not doing a job they're supposed to be doing, I do not believe that supervisor should be held responsible," said Hunt.

Shortage of officers

Hunt added that any problems uncovered by internal affairs in the homicide division are due to a chronic shortage of HPD officers.

"Any issues involving investigations is eventually going to come back to manpower. You can't possibly continue to be doing the number of investigations the city of Houston has with the number of investigators that we have," Hunt said.

Gonzalez said he was supportive of the ongoing investigation into homicide, adding safeguards should be implemented to make sure murder cases are not misplaced.

"I hope there are policies and procedures in place to that make sure something like, for example, this oversight, doesn't happen again," the councilman said. "By and large I'm proud of my service in the police department. I worked on many cases, and I cleared many cases."